Annotations of an Anomaly

The irony of House's choice of costume for the 80's party from S06Ep06 was not lost on me.




From my favourite season of Blackadder:


Annie Lennox filmclip "Walking on Broken Glass":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GBn-BpkNsA Embedding is disabled for this video.

If you've ever felt like some kind of robot and have just been in the same rut or routine for any length of time, bring those feelings up so they are fresh in your mind again.

Then go and watch this video.

Powerful stuff.

I resigned.

But every ending...has a beginning.

Well I've had my first day back at work & as I dreaded it wasn't fun. For the simple fact that my system refuses to run Avid Media Composer properly, even though it was fine for 2 1/2 weeks before the I.T. department re-installed my whole system. And yes I've tried turning it on & off again. Its to do with our new user system & I warned them that something like this would happen & even gave them a solution, but did they listen? Of course not!

Ive got my bandwidth back now, so at least thats a plus & catching up on the TV we missed while we were away. LJ catch-up is harder though so I'll send out the following blanket responses:

*If something awesome happened in your life recently: congratz!

*If some sad happened in your life recently: condolances.

*If something shitty happened in your life recently: then fuck those fucken fuckers!

There, I think that about covers it.

( Phase One of Operation SHITSTORM has been an overwhelming success, Captain... )

...so I won't be around for about a week. Following obsessive24's lead and flitting off to Fiji to relax on a beach somewhere & get some sun on this pasty white body.

Have fun without me & try not to release too much cool shit while I'm gone. That goes for you too, Jon Faverau...

Fandom: The Matrix Trilogy
Audio: "Break Stuff" by Limp Biskit
4Shared Link: Download the HQ AVI (50 meg XviD)



Description:

I decided to give my 2005 Matrix vid a make-over before I do a system reformat while I still had all the footage on my PC. Ive also fixed a few of the things that bugged me about it, and replaced some shots to improve the overall structure & "angry" theme.

( Background history & notes )

Im close to completing the remaster of Burly Man & thought I would include a couple of extras as a prelude to the event.

First, I remixed 2 of my favourite commercials of all time in the one mega 60 second spot - if only I was allowed to make commercials like this:


This kid is absolutely adorable, if I couldn't adopt him then I hope my child grows up with that same kind of enthusiastic innocence!


The second video is a short excerpt from one of the extra discs from the 10 disc box set of the Ultimate Matrix collection & one of my personal favourites. It deals with shooting some of the TV monitor Neo's in the Architect scene from Reloaded.



The Burly Man is the only vid I've made out of therapy, and this short clip vividly illustrates what I was feeling internally when I made the original video back in 2005. I don't ever get enraged but I really was that angry and it really takes an extreme situation to get me to that level. I'd also planned to remix some of Neo's outbursts into the intro of the Burly Man remaster in a conversation with the Architect. But the effort required to recomposite the footage and make it look seamless with the original movie required far more effort than it was worth. So I'll just share it with you in all its glory :) For all the shit they've copped - my love for the Wachowskis is unfaltering & I would have given my left nut to be on-set this one day...

Hope to have the remaster up in a day or 2.

Well Im 2 days into my 4 week block of holidays & i don't know how much better life can get at the moment.

My NY Giants are 4-0 (and Im watching a cracker of a Viking/Packers game live right now). The new TV season is back with a vengance & pumping out serious quality (Dexter, Fringe, House, Merlin - Im looking about you). Ive been watching some really cool shit like the MGS fan movie & the DC animated flicks for Green Lantern (best animated flick ever!) & the Superman/Batman Public Enemies one. Theres been a shit load of quality PS3 demos to download for free & I'll be catching up on full games like Dead Space & Batman: Arkham Asylum over the next 2 weeks. We are off to Fiji for a whole week at the end of October. And I'm slowly but surely catching up on my vid watching/feedback & my own vidding mojo is recharging at a pretty decent rate & I have a ton of ideas.

The only thing bad thats happened is my video card died a sad death a week ago & I need a new replacement. I was going to do a big reformat during my holidays anyway so I'll just have to shout myself a new one as well as a new 250/320 gig HDD for the PS3. This could also be good news vidding wise as it forces me to complete my TRON vid and the Burly Man remaster I had been planning. Also got a really cool trailer idea for Merlin (that Ive had since season one) I am super keen to turn into reality which will come after the reformat.

Also I have seen probably the best comedy Australia has ever produced in :30 Seconds
http://www.thecomedychannel.com.au/whatson/Detail.aspx?mediaId=1525

Having worked in the advertising industry (and essentially still working in it), this just makes my heart explode with over exposure to awesome. Its funny in a blatantly & surprisingly honest way & quite similar to 30 Rock - I feel anyone of any nationality would enjoy this series. The way the main guy see an advert in any everyday products is kind a similar to how a vid idea formulates in my head! If you can spare a 200meg-ish download it is most definately worth your time & effort checking out the first episode. It also has some very strong female characters & the second episode is worth a look as well for some brilliant insight into the female mind which I know would probably have most of my flist fist-pumping the air.

These promos don't fully do the show justice, though there are a few grabs from the show in each one.

Ive been waiting for this to come out & its finally arrived!

Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy from Hive Division on Vimeo.

Based on one of my all time favourite gaming franchises. Oh & its 100% free. Running time is just over 1 hour.

Find the download/torrent links here:
http://www.mgs-philanthropy.net/ita/index.html

Had a blast at Gencon Oz this year! Its the best con Ive ever been to based entirely on my own experiences, of which I will elaborate further when I can actually look at a screen for more than 15 minutes. I got to interact with Sam Witwer & Kate Vernon, of which I have video of...but again this will come when health & time returns.

2 days sick leave would of have been a great time to catch up on feedback too, but again the 15 minute thing was prohibitive.


In the interim I found these 2 videos (not by me) that a nice little montages of various aspects just so you get an idea of what it was like:






Heres one photo I took, but I warn you....ZEE GOGGLES DO NUSINK!

http://img21.imageshack.us/i/dsc00214mt.jpg/

Vids.

I don't think are many individuals that ever make them to be intentionally controversial or confronting. Unfortunately, there's always the risk of someone who will take offense to some aspect of your work. And those individuals will always be looking for such issues, whether they exist or not.

To sum up, its not you...its them.

So always take heart in that fact, and never ever let it stop you making & sharing your creations.

( and in other news... )

I mean apart from the BAM-SPAM-DRAM(A)? And the fact that Nicky has probably released about 7 vids in that time?

Seriously behind on my LJ reading, something I hope to catch up on tonight with the missus on the other side of the continent for work.

In my own little world things have been busy, it seems my bitching to the universe about my job situation has worked...kind of. While I haven't found an alternative, I did get something very close to a 10% payrise. We get a pay review every year but I wasn't expecting such a jump. Go me! I have gone from wage to salary though now & I don't get leave loading for holidays or paid for overtime - but I didn't do that much OT to begin with).

With Comic Con come and gone & no bootleg Iron Man 2 footage to be seen Mister A was a very sad boy :( But luckily, a very cool thing happened.

They released a hi-res version of the FX test from last years TRON:Legacy, which has re-charged the vidding batteries back up just above critical levels...enough for me to lay some old skool TRON footage down on a timeline. And it'll be even getting back to my action roots...although the mainly static shots will be somewhat of a hurdle to turn into something decent.

Also finished remastering Handlebars for deejay which along with a DVD of Let It Rock will be winging its way to her hopefully in time before she leaves for Vividcon. Heres the DVD case & discs:


Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!



Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!

And no deej, the Iron Man stress ball is not part of the package!

I also recently did a face-to-face vidder interview with the lovely Katie Freund, aka nushanakt to help with her with her research - which was fun. Even though it was an interview type situation, the best thing was to be able to talk to someone "in real time" about vids. As opposed to all this written dialogue. Now I know why everyone goes so batshit-ballistic for VVC...I mean apart from the flood of new vids that also accompanies this time of year.

A reason I have been rather absent also is both promoting & gearing up for a big convention of my own, although instead of watching/talking/living/breathing vids, I'll be blowing shit up with big, stompy robots. If you squint really hard, or watch a Transformers vid its kind of the same thing...

In final news, finished watching Merlin & discovered a fucking hilarious show featuring my current "man crush" Danny McBride - Eastbound & Down. So politically incorrect its not funny. Well, actually it is. I love it anyway.

Last year, I put in a last minute bid on jagwriter78 for Sweet Charity, not thinking I would actually win her. Imagine my surprise when I got the email saying she was mine! All mines I tells ya!

I had wanted to make this vid about everybody's favourite Luxan myself for a long time, but the idea of ripping all that source & doing it to a song that has been done quite a bit already put it at the bottom of the vidding priority queue. So when I asked jag to do it, not only did she like the idea but wasn't all that familiar with the song! I also cut it down for her so it the later choruses didn't drag on and on, which can happen with Fatboy Slim.




You don't need to know much about Farscape at all to enjoy it - in fact, the first scene pretty much sums up the whole premise of the vid!

You can check it on out...the weapon of choice:
http://jagwriter78.livejournal.com/259046.html

Wow...can't believe theres like 1 year before Iron Man 2 hits my eyeballs at the cinemas! The next couple of months are also looking pretty seck-see for films as well with the likes of T4, Transformers 2 & Star Trek.

But now its question time...is there anyone out there willing to do a little test burn for me?

Im pretty sure I already know the answer, but is there someone out there in NTSC Land who is willing to try burning some VOB files I’ve exported from my NLE to a playable DVD & let me know if it works? The test footage will be the first minute of Let It Rock & will be around 60 megs worth of download. Burning with Nero would be preferable, but any other program would be fine. I can arrange a small favour in return for your troubles if you like as well. Post a comment with your intent with an email address & I’ll take the first willing soul.

In other random news I’m not one of those people who play a lot of Facebook games/apps, but the one I do play is called My Heroes Ability. Very much like the TV show Heroes with its selection of powers (although you start with a random power)…mine has always been Electricity & I’ve based my character on an upcoming PS3 game called inFamous. At first I just used a still pic in my profile, but last year started work on using the actual trailers for the game as a “video origin story” for him. Going through my projects in an effort to free up HDD space I came across it & decided to finish it off. Not much effort went into it, it pretty much cut itself.



And speaking of random...

( roflcopterz – the most WTF email EVAR )

password: letitrock



Fandom: Iron Man
Audio: "Let It Rock" by the Kevin Rudolph feat Lil Wayne
4Shared Link: Download the HQ AVI (60 meg XviD)
Alternate Stream: iMeem


Description:

Tony Stark: …billionaire, playboy, inventor, superhero…ROCKSTAR!

Its been a long time coming but the Sweet Charity vid I was commissioned to do by deejay back in 2008 has arrived, and I hope its “brought the fire”.

( Notes from the edit )

Its fucking distracting....OHHHHHHHH GOOD!

Well after the Christmas period I’ve had, Im glad 2008 is over.

Its why I’ve barely stuck my head into LJ since the beginning of December. The other guy that I work with resigned his position & then we go and have the busiest Xmas period ever at work. I edited something like 27 commercials in an 8 day stretch (not to mention a zillion dubs for the TV stations) – which we’ve never done with 2 people here. Plus its only going to get worse, we’ve already made more commercials than there are days of the year for 2 years straight & I don’t see that changing anytime soon. If anything we’ll probably make more.

So my NY resolution is to get a new job & get away from this shit fight. At least I might be able to turn this situation to my advantage in the interim and get some more $$$ & a more flexible work start/finish time.

Also Im going to take this opportunity to send a big blanket congratz or commiserations to everyone whos been going through good times or had a rough patch. Lets hope the new year brings better tidings for all.

Heres what Ive been up to that wasn’t part of "The December Stress Fest of 2008": ( ie the good stuff )

Also planning to go back through LJ entries to find any vids posted in the last month, but if you have got any recs – please feel free to pimp away.

And here, I’ll even give you one: Butterflies & Hurricanes
(Iron Man video set the Muse song of the same name).
Absolutely superb editing & storytelling. Do your eyes 'n ears a favour & check it out.

Fandom: Matrix Trilogy
Audio: "Goodbye Mr A" by the Hoosiers
Vimeo Link: D/L the HQ AVI
(60 meg XviD)





Description: The instant charmax mentioned this song on her LJ one day, it inevitably led me to investigate the possibility of hearing a song about my favourite messiah. I fell in love with it so hard that its now not only my mobile/cell ringtone, but I'm working on convincing the family to have it played at my funeral when my time eventually comes.

While Im sure the Hoosiers didn't have Neo in mind when they wrote the song, I've bludgeoned the video from the movies so hard that its bruised & bloodied remains cover the lyrics in a stereotypically haphazard fashion.

Worst. Wedding. Present. Ever.

My own favourite moments are Smiths genuine look of hurt after being given the finger & the credit sequence at the end. In fact, if your not feeling this vid...may I suggest just skipping forward to 3.33 to watch that small outro.

In celebration of bradcpu's recent enlightenment, I now inflict upon you the following photochop:

( OMGWTFBBQ!!1~!!1 )

Also, my Charmax wedding gift vid should be online tomorrow. I will not be liable for any damage to your eyes as you have been forewarned.